Health Care

America’s health care system does too little to deliver good health, even as spiraling health care costs place increasing burdens on American families, businesses, and the government. The Joint Economic Committee studies how changing health care financing arrangements, increasing consumer choice, altering the tax treatment of health insurance, adopting information technology, and reforming federal entitlement programs can improve America’s economic outlook and the health of its citizens.

Related Studies

August 2012
June 2012
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Related Charts

  • The $805 Billion Price Tag of Obama’s Broken Promise on Premiums

    A $12,230 Difference for the Average Family, $4,163 for the Average Individual

    Aug 01 2012

    Associated Image As the end if Obama’s first term draws near, his promise to reduce the average family’s premium by $2,500 has instead amounted to an average increase of $2,393.

    This report analyzes actual versus promised premiums in the private health insurance market and finds that, even after accounting for rebates provided through Obamacare’s Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provision, the average family has spent $12,230 more on private health insurance than candidate Obama promised while the average individual has spent $4,163 more.

    With a total of more than $800 billion less in Americans’ pockets than Obama promised, it’s no wonder our economy continues to struggle.
    Read More

  • New Health Care System Amended by Supreme Court

    Jun 28 2012

    Associated Image

  • Brady Sees Court-Sanctioned Taxes As a Means of Limiting Freedom

    Jun 28 2012

    Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said today that the Supreme Court, in essence, approved the use of tax to restrict the freedom of Americans.
    “I am reminded that an earlier Chief Justice, John Marshall, warned us in the early days of the republic that the ‘power to tax was the power to destroy.’ Today, in finding most of the provisions of ObamaCare constitutional, the Supreme Court confirmed that view,” Brady said.
    “Just because the Court finds something constitutional does not make it either right or good public policy, Brady continued. “It was not all that long ago that the Supreme Court found segregation and poll taxes constitutional, to other clear violations of individual liberty, constitutional. Those decisions were reversed, either by the Court itself, or by a constitutional amendment,” Brady noted. “The American people can reverse this judgment by electing a Congress and a President, who will protect the liberty of the American people to decide best for them and their families.”
    Brady noted the irony that the Court brought an end to the legal fiction the Obama administration constructed to conceal the true intentions of the law. “All along President Obama insisted that the individual healthcare mandate was not a tax. Today, the Supreme Court found not only that this mandate was indeed a tax, but that this mandate passed constitutional muster solely because it was a tax.”
    “The truth remains that ObamaCare is bad policy and it has to go,” Brady concluded.
    Read More
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  • Bennett Explores the Burdens of Health Services Regulation...

    Washington, DC—In conjunction with Cover the Uninsured Week, Joint Economic Committee Chairman Robert F. Bennett held a hearing today to explore how over-regulating health care services has created significant increases in cost, and hampered quality and accessibility of care for many Americans. The committee also released a study today on “The Complex Challenge of the Uninsured.” The report takes a look at who is uninsured, the reasons they may be insured and ways that health care can be made more affordable. Senator Bennett issued the following statement at the hearing: “Health care is certainly a vital item in all our lives, and some regulations can improve its quality and even reduce its cost. However, there is a significant risk that the promised benefits of health services regulations will fall short of their costs if we don’t seek to rein them in. “Health care is one of the most intensively regulated sectors of the U.S. economy. It is also one of the largest, accounting for $1.7 trillion annual spending, which is more than 15% of gross domestic product (GDP). “Much health regulation is premised on the judgment that most health care consumers don’t know, don’t want to know, and cannot know enough to make important decisions for themselves. I don’t know if that’s true often enough to justify the level of health regulation we have, but we hope to find that out today. “Patients, consumers, and taxpayers are the ones who bear their ultimate costs of unnecessary regulation. Excessive regulatory burdens can also harm our most vulnerable individuals, and prevent the uninsured and lower-income health care consumers from accessing the health care they need.” The Joint Economic Committee Report on “The Complex Challenge of the Uninsured” can be viewed at http://jec.senate.gov/_files/Uninsured.pdf. Release05132004.pdf (87.5 KBs)

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  • Prescription Drugs Are Only One Reason Why Medicare Needs Reform

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  • Raising the Cost Curve

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  • Hearing on "The Performance and Potential of Consumer Driven Health Care"

    Washington, DC—Joint Economic Committee Chairman Robert F. Bennett will host a hearing to explore the development of consumer driven health care. Consumer driven health care allows for greater flexibility in choosing and paying for health care based on a consumer’s own needs and preferences. The hearing will take a look at recent data from providers and employer plans that have been involved in the consumer driven health care market in the last two years and will explore its long term potential. Advisory02202004.pdf (84.2 KBs)

  • Bennett Explores Relationship Between Advances in Technology and Rising...

    Washington, DC—Senator Bennett, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, held a hearing today on how technology and innovation affect health care costs. In other sectors, new technologies usually lead to greater efficiency and lower costs in goods and services, yet it is unclear whether the same is true for health care. Bennett welcomed witnesses from the Administration and leading medical research institutions to explore the various ways that technology influences health care costs. Panelists included Dr. Mark McClellan, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Release07092003.pdf (98.4 KBs)

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  • Chairman Bennett Explores Ways to Reshape the Future of America's Health

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  • The Health Benefit Tax Exclusion Distorts the Health Insurance Market

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